In El Salvador, people have died or lost their drinking water sources because of gold mining, contributing to a rising tide against mining. In 2008, the El Salvador government introduced a de facto moratorium on large-scale mining maintained by President Salvador Sánchez Cerén.

Usually, outdoor ordeal films, at least of the horror genre, involve members of the middle classes suffering for their privileges, and ultimately being forced to defend them violently against poor people with a righteous grudge. Besides having a glaring class dimension, another aspect of the appeal of such films, is that they present cityfolk in the audience a chance to vicariously test our mettle: can we "do what is to be done under such conditions -- eat raw meat, sleep on the bare ground, betray our comrades, kill someone?" Or has city life made us too soft? 2013's VIFF has no shortage of films that ask these questions, with film after film plunging its characters into ordeals in the wilds, from which they may not emerge. Not all of these are horror films -- though even ones that aren't partake of elements of the genre

There may be no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but how about at the end of your Internet cable? As gold prices continue to underwhelm, the emergence of the virtual currency Bitcoin has raised the stakes in the world of commodity investing.

Canada's banks stayed afloat during the Great Recession without a real need for the taxpayer's life jacket, whereas American banks either sank or needed the taxpayer's life boat. But what is less known about our financial system is that its merits go beyond its resolve over the last decade.

Bubbles occur all the time, along with financial inventions. The most recent, and controversial, launched in 2009: A virtual currency called Bitcoin that enabled holders to trade directly and to hide their assets from governments.

Pathogens only make up a fraction of the diversity of germs on Earth and a number of environmental germs have been examined for their financial and environmental benefit. For the most part, these germs are unknown and kept away from the science spotlight.

Pierre Lassonde, one of the world's foremost experts on gold, says the only way's up for the shiny stuff.
He should know and has made his fortune in the gold game. This week, he spoke at a mining seminar in Toronto organized by mining consultant Terry Ortsland, Chair of the Mineral Resource Analyst Group.

If the world remains in a chaotic state, that might keep gold going higher, but if things stabilize gold could tumble or simply move sideways. It's for that reason that gold remains part of an overall investment strategy -- not the whole enchilada.